An artist rendition of Morpheus Space nano thrusters on a 1U CubeSat.

An artist rendition of Morpheus Space nano thrusters on a 1U CubeSat. Morpheus Space

CIA’s In-Q-Tel Among Backers of German Satellite-Thruster Startup

Morpheus Space’s small and simple electric thrusters could upend the satellite industry.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s venture capital firm is among a half-dozen investors in Morpheus Space, a German startup whose novel electric thrusters enable tiny satellites to maneuver and big ones to reduce complexity.

The Dresden-based company said it plans to use the capital to hire employees, increase production and expand its business to the United States. While the company won’t say how much money it raised, it listed In-Q-Tel along with other investors VSquared Ventures, Lavrock Ventures, Airbus Ventures, Pallas Ventures and TechStars. The startup’s leaders hope the money will allow it to enter the defense, civil, and commercial space markets.

Morpheus Space’s “unique propulsion systems are poised to revolutionize the space industry,” said Richard Spencer, who stepped down as Navy secretary last year and is now managing director of Pallas Ventures, in an emailed statement. Spencer is also on the firm’s board of directors and is helping with U.S. expansion.

While the company plans to continue manufacturing the thrusters in Germany, Morpheus plans to open an office in Los Angeles and is considering a second U.S. office on the East Coast. 

The company’s thrusters allow even cheap cube satellites to become maneuverable spacecraft, allowing operators to move them for different missions or avoid collisions with space debris. Typically only larger, more expensive satellites have the thrusters necessary to maneuver in space.

Six Morpheus thrusters are already in space aboard two university satellites. In June, Morpheus thrusters moved a 10-centimeter, or 1U, cubesat out of the path of a disabled Iridium satellite, marking the first time a satellite of this class performed a collision avoidance maneuver, István Lőrincz, the company’s chief business officer and co-founder, said. Without the four electric thrusters, the two satellites would have likely crashed into one another.

“This is the first CubeSat that actually had an electric propulsion system on board and could successfully operate the propulsion system,” Lőrincz said. “No other CubeSat has the capability.”

Lőrincz called the thrusters “the smallest and most efficient propulsion system for satellites that has space qualification.”

The smallest thrusters are about the size of a fingertip — the larger ones about the size of a rubix cube. A modular design means they could be used on satellites as little as 1 kilogram or more than a ton. 

They’re modular, and can go on satellites as small as 1 kilogram and as large as a ton.

“It's a building block, actually, like a Lego brick,” said Daniel Bock, the company’s CEO and co-founder. “

The thrusters also use a metal propellant, eliminating the need for tanks and tubes needed for gas fuel. 

“It's basically a solid block of metal, which makes it very easy to launch, Bock said.

The solid fuel could power the thrusters longer than the satellites design life.

“So the satellite would die sooner than the fuel was run out,” Lőrincz said. “So essentially, from the satellites point of view, it's infinite.”

As for cost: “We can meet the pricing of any comparable propulsion systems price,” he said.

Morphus also touted what executives described as “autopilot-like software” for firing its thrusters. 

“No one is using an autopilot for the satellites — the orbits and all the maneuvers, are controlled manually from the ground by experts,” Bock said.

Space is a niche area where startups have been able to win business, but it's no easy feat competing against multibillion behemoths like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

“Everyone knows that the current acquisition system is not ... adequate to implement or assimilate emerging technologies that are innovative, that are revolutionary,” Lőrincz said.

He touted the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force leaders’ use of pitch days and other work around to get access to cutting-edge commercial technology.

“A lot of ambitious leaders within the government, the U.S. Air Force [and] Space Force ... are working to create workarounds to make it possible that startups can have a significant impact within the government,” Lőrincz said. “But it's still not enough.”


Don't miss:

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.